Fic:Vampire hunting is the world’s oldest profession (And I, dear Madame, am a professional) [24/24]
Title: ‘Vampire hunting is the world’s oldest profession (And I, dear Madame, am a professional)’ [24/24] Completed
Author: JenJM (me)
Pairing: Gabe/William, Mikey/William, Pete/Patrick, Brendon/Ryan, Jon/Spencer and many a few others.
Rating: NC-17 overall
Characters: Gabe Saporta, William Beckett, Pete Wentz, Patrick Stump, Mikey Way, others. Pretty much everyone from Cobras, Academy, FOB and MCR. Plus Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds, and I can tell you Green Day will appear somewhere along the way.
Word count: 96,000 total words
Warnings: language, blood, violence, killings, all the stuff you can find in a story where people kill vampires and vice versa. But these vampires have sense of humor.
Disclaimer: Gabe and William aren’t mine ç_ç they belong to each other themselves. Actually no one in here belongs to me, and it’s so sad.
I really don’t mean to offend anyone and nothing of what I wrote in this story is to be considered real, it’s all fiction.
Author’s Notes: Pete being a vampire and hunting others vampires is kinda taken from FOB’s video for “Sixteen candles”, all the other stuff is a product of my twisted mind.
Title from Cobra Starship’s “Prostitution is the world’s oldest profession (And I, dear Madame, am a professional)”.
As ever, feel free to report any mistake. Constructive criticism is welcome, feedback makes me happy!
Beta: my dear and patient
nejem
Summary: “In his late years, Gabe Saporta had come to consider himself a peaceful, harmless, even funny vampire. He rarely killed anyone, when he fed he always left his victims where they could be easily found and rescued, and sure thing he never wanted to be part of any clan ever again.” But his plans are ruined when he gets caught by a vampire hunters clan led by Pete Wentz, and things take an interesting path when William Beckett, a young hunter, becomes his jailer. Meanwhile Ryan Ross gets kidnapped by someone they didn’t expect to see again, and the clan has to find him before it’s too late.
Crossposted. Like, a lot.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
“How’s your leg?” Cassie approached the bed where Mike was sitting with his back against the headboard and watching television.
“Itches under the cast, but fine.” Mike addressed her a little smile, shrugging. “Besides, America’s Next Top Model is making my day much brighter. I mean, it can’t compete with Desperate Housewives or Gilmore Girls, but still.” Cassie laughed at that, then saw Mike turn off the television. “I knew there was a reason I didn’t watch TV.”
“C’mon, they’re not that bad.” Cassie snickered at the surprised look Mike addressed her.
“You actually watch Gilmore Girls?” Mike asked, not totally convinced by the whole thing.
“What do you think me, Keltie and Haley do when we spend the night in their room?” Cassie laughed, shaking her head.
“Uh, naked pillow fight and lesbo sex?” Mike tried, but only gained a soft slap on his arm.
“You have a twisted mind.” Cassie threw him an amused and teasing glance, grinning. “I mean, we’re still girls, we’re young, and we want to have fun.”
“Stop it, you’ll get me horny.” Mike shook his head, closing his eyes.
“Pig.” Cassie slapped him again, harder this time, and Mike looked at her, surprised.
“Sue me.” The hunter smirked, his hand massaging the spot Cassie had hit a moment before. “I mean, TV sucks, my twisted mind is apparently the only thing I have to distract myself.”
“You know, we could…” Cassie started to say, but hesitated when she saw the curious look on Mike’s face. “Never mind.”
“What?” Mike asked, confused by her behavior. “C’mon, I promise I won’t get mad if you’re about to suggest doing a race down the corridor.”
Cassie laughed and shook her head, amused. “No, I was thinking that we could like, go downtown or something. To distract you from your forced rest and the tv shows, and to keep your twisted mind busy.”
“Well…you like circus?” Mike asked with a genuine smile.
“Actually, yeah, I love it.” Cassie admitted, visibly more relaxed.
“There’s one not far from here.” Mike played with the remote in his hands, looking at the girl. “We could, you know…”
“Go there?” Cassie finished for him, gaining a hesitant nod. “Sure.”
For a few seconds neither of them talked, both trying to go past that sudden awkwardness. After a couple of minutes, Cassie nodded and walked towards the door. “I’ll go change my clothes and I’ll be back.”
“Cassie.” Mike called her, amusement filling his voice. She stopped with her fingers closed on the handle and turned to look at the boy. “We share the room, your clothes are here.”
“Oh, right.” Cassie felt herself blush for the embarrassment and Mike gestured her to get closer.
“If you’re not at ease with this, we can stay here.” Mike smiled reassuringly at her, shrugging. “It’s not big deal.”
Cassie looked at him with a serious expression, then sat down on the bed next to him. “Are we…dating or something?”
“I dunno, I guess we could be.” Mike replied with a careful tone, not wanting to make the girl run. “I mean, I’d be glad if we did.”
“You’d be glad?” Cassie asked with a skeptical tone, her self-confidence coming back all at once.
“I’d love it.” Mike admitted with a smirk, and saw the tension leave the girl’s shoulders.
“Then I guess we’re dating.” Cassie nodded slowly, then bit on her lower lip to keep from smiling.
“Are we?” Mike tilted his head to the side, leaning towards her.
“We totally are.” Cassie smiled and let the boy kiss her, her hand resting on Mike’s neck.
~~
The library was quiet despite the people inside, and Joe stopped on the doorstep, looking around. Keltie was reading a small book in an armchair by the fire, while Tré and Dirnt were playing chess on the couch. Travis was sitting in front of them, earphones in both his ears; he was bobbing his head at the rhythm of the music but his eyes never left the game. Vicky was sitting next to him, her laptop on her legs.
No one noticed he was standing there and he just leaned against the doorframe, a little smile on his lips. That was what Patrick called ‘home’, and Joe was starting to understand why. He missed his pack and his friends, and his heart ached every time he heard Andy’s name, but he was starting to feel at ease with Wentz’ guys, and the thing surprised him.
Haley reached him and rested her chin on his shoulder, without saying a word. Apparently Dirnt noticed the movement this time and looked up, surprised.
“Hey, how are you doing?” Tré smiled to the werewolf, gesturing him to join them.
“Better.” Joe offered him a grateful nod and walked in, his hand holding Haley’s. “Who’s winning?”
“Me.” Tré proudly replied, and Joe arched an eyebrow, surprised.
“For the third time in a row.” Dirnt muttered, glaring at his friend and causing Vicky to snicker.
“Uh, Mike.” Tré called, his voice clearly showing his amusement.
“Oh, please, not again.” Keltie looked in their direction, exasperated.
“Checkmate.” Tré knocked down Mike’s king and grinned widely, standing form his seat. “This mean you lose. Again.” He started a little happy dance, swinging his hips. “And I win. Again.”
“Let’s see if you can beat me.” Joe looked directly at Tré with a knowing smirk, but the hunter didn’t let it scare him.
“He’s all yours.” Dirnt stood from his seat and gestured Joe to sit down. “Hurt him, please.”
Joe laughed at that, stretching his neck while Tré put the pieces at their places.
“Joe, he’s like a chess wizard or something.” Keltie warned him, while Haley took the seat next to him.
“You noticed.” Tré looked at Keltie with a wide smile, almost bouncy.
“Well, it’s hard not to notice it, since you do that stupid happy dance every time you win.” Keltie shook her head and stood from the armchair, putting the book on the coffee table.
“Where are you going?” Tré looked at her with a frown, obviously worried.
“I’m going to check on the prisoners and bring Bryar some blood.” Keltie shrugged and reached the door slowly.
“You’d rather do that than stay here and watch me win for the fourth time?” The hunter looked halfway between offended and hurt, and Dirnt shook his head while Joe repressed a grin.
“Definitely.” Keltie smirked one last time at him, then walked out of the door.
“You can’t go! You’re my good luck charm!” Tré yelled after her, but she was gone and Vicky offered him a nacho chip as a consolation. “She hates me.” Tré muttered, chewing the chip and moving one of his pieces.
“She likes you.” Haley smirked, resting her head on Joe’s shoulder. “She’s just too proud to give in at the first attempt.”
“And the second, third and fourth.” Vicky added, and Travis snickered quietly.
“Just keep trying.” Joe smiled to the hunter, moving his piece. “I mean, first time I tried to kiss Haley, she slapped me so hard I thought my neck was gonna snap.”
“He got me in a wrong moment.” Haley scratched her neck and smiled a little at the others surprised glances. “Werewolves in bad moments aren’t cute.”
“Remind me to never get you in a wrong moment.” Tré swallowed and his worried glance caused the others to burst out laughing.
~~
“I’m not sure you’re gonna like this but…” Billie Joe grinned as he entered the room, his eyes immediately finding the witch. “Love is in the air.”
“Everybody’s got someone to shag in this house.” Maja admitted with an identical grin, finding Billie Joe’s entry just a bit weird. “Well, except Tré and Mike.” She added with a thoughtful expression. “And Keltie.” Maja shrugged, then scratched her head for a second. “Okay, maybe not everybody.” She realized Billie Joe had been watching her for the whole time with a little smirk and frowned, curious. “What?”
“I wasn’t talking about the Wentz motel.” Billie Joe approached the girl and circled her waist with an arm. “I was talking about me.”
“Oh.” Maja simply said, blinking. “Oh!” She repeated as she realized what those words meant. She turned in the hug and looked at the vampire in the eye. “Oh?”
“Not the best declaration in the history of human and vampire kind, but still…yeah.” Billie Joe admitted with a little smirk.
“And you chose this particular moment to tell me because…” Maja’s smile was halfway between ecstatic and confused.
“It took me half an hour to gather enough guts to actually say it, and I didn’t want the moment to pass.” Billie Joe admitted, raising his hand to put a strand of Maja’s hair behind her ear. “And I’m so glad you’re not throwing some weird voodoo curse at me, right now.”
“I’m done with the curses and the magic tricks.” Maja smiled, her arms circling the vampire’s neck.
“Tell me I’m not dreaming.” Billie Joe whispered on her lips, grinning.
“If you are, don’t you dare to wake up or I’ll hunt your ass down.” Maja replied, looking at him in the eye, then kissed him slowly, feeling her heart swell.
When someone knocked on the door, the witch felt a sudden homicidal impulse towards whoever the visitor was. They barely had the time to end the kiss before Pete opened the door without waiting for a reply.
“I seriously hope you have a good reason for this, Wentz.” Maja hissed, looking at the boss with a threatening glare.
“Uh, kinda.” Pete raised an eyebrow, actually a bit scared by the girl’s tone, while Billie Joe was trying to hide his smirk. “I mean, Gerard Way’s really really pissed and he’s coming here with his clan. How’s that on your ‘it’d better be good or I’m turning you into a toad right on the spot’ scale?”
“Fairly bad.” Maja muttered, and Pete looked at her with a suspicious glance. “It means your ass is safe. This time.”
“They don’t know we know.” Pete explained, much calmer. “Is there a way to avoid fighting and just, you know, catch them?”
“I do magic, not miracles.” Maja frowned, thinking fast. “We could place traps, like magical fields and stuff in the garden, and they’d turn into dust as soon as the sun rises. But we won’t catch all of them.”
“We have good long distance shooters, hopefully only a dozen will get to the house.” Pete nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer.
“Who told you about Gerard?” Billie Joe asked, curiosity and worry fighting in his gaze.
“Butch Walker.” Pete smirked, seeing both his friends frown in disbelief.
“C’mon, seriously, who told you?” Maja addressed him her best ‘not in the mood for jokes’ look.
“Butch. Walker.” Pete repeated slowly, making sure she understood. “I’m not kidding. I talked to him on the phone like, ten minutes ago.”
“That’s it, the world’s ending, the sun’s gonna explode. Or worse.” Maja shook her head, chuckling and Billie Joe laughed at Pete’s exasperated expression.
~~
Later that day
“We’ve got a problem.” Pete announced as he entered the library where Billie Joe had gathered everyone.
“No circus.” Mike sighed, sitting on the couch and gaining a little smile from Cassie.
“What’s the matter?” Gabe asked, not looking away from the other vampire.
“Gerard Way.” Pete glanced at Patrick as the werewolf reached them, helped by his crutches, Maja walking by his side. “He’s coming here with his clan.”
“He wants the book.” Chizz raised an eyebrow, shaking his head.
“And he wants revenge.” William added, his tone flat. “For Mikey.”
“What are we gonna do?” Ryan asked, not entirely sure he wanted to hear the answer.
“Luckily we know they’re coming here, so we have time to get ready.” Pete nodded towards Maja, and everyone turned to look at her.
“I put together this sort of plan to defend the house and stop as many vampires as we can.” Maja looked around, seeing everyone paying attention to her words. “All the stuff we need is here, so we just have to prepare and set the traps.” She let out a little sigh, a little apologetic smile on her lips. “But we don’t have much time, so I’ll need help from all of you.”
“To do what?” Brendon frowned, clearly confused by the witch’s words.
“To prepare my magical tricks.” Maja explained with a little grin. “Don’t worry, nothing too dangerous, but we have to prepare and set the traps before morning.”
“It’s gonna be a long night.” Ryland shook his head, his eyes finding Chizz’ worried ones.
“Also.” Maja continued, and everyone turned to look at her again. “While I was at it I took a quick look at the ingredients for the de-turning potion.”
“De-turning?” William asked with a grin, not completely convinced.
“Yeah, well, I haven’t named it yet.” Maja waved at him distractedly, but her smile disappeared after a few seconds. “There’s a problem.”
“What an unusual sentence, lately.” Alex arched his eyebrow, sarcastic.
“We need another silver Phoenix feather…” Maja started, her voice quiet and wary.
“Not a problem.” Gabe shrugged immediately, looking at her.
“…and blood of a newly turned vampire.” Maja finished, and everyone turned to look at William.
“I’m a newly turned vampire.” The boy said, both his eyebrows shooting up.
“By newly, I mean a vampire that has been turned less than 48 hours before the blood is taken.” Maja saw Billie Joe close his eyes and take a deep breath, and she had to fight the urge to walk there and hug him.
“I’ll do it.” Brendon stood from his seat on the couch, ignoring the way Ryan was looking at him. “Turn me, and use my blood.”
“No, if we turn you, and Ryan is de-turned or whatever it’s called, the problem won’t be solved at all. It’ll be…flipped.” Pete shook his head, addressing Brendon an eloquent look.
“But if you turn me, and use the potion for Billie Joe, the problem will be solved.” Brendon replied, his voice steady and his eyes locked with Pete’s surprised ones.
“Brendon, no.” Ryan stood quickly, forcing his boyfriend to turn and look at him.
“You wanted this.” Brendon smiled at the vampire, no trace of grudge in voice.
“But you didn’t.” Ryan protested, shaking his head with decision.
“Guys, maybe you should talk about this in private.” Maja suggested, a concerned frown on her face.
“No, it’s something that will affect the family.” Brendon looked at her, then at Pete, determined.
“I can’t turn you.” Pete sighed, seeing the boy’s smile fade slowly. “I’m Ryan’s Sire, and if I turned you as well, you two wouldn’t be allowed to be together.”
“You gave me your word!” Brendon took a step towards Pete, furious, but Ryan held him back.
“Guys!” Maja stepped towards Brendon and took a deep breath. “Let’s just take care of Frank and Gerard, then we’ll solve this. We have time.”
Brendon looked at her, ready to reply something bitter and probably rude, but then saw the genuine concern in her gaze and bit it back. “Okay.” He just said, throwing a furious glance at Pete.
“Good.” Maja turned and looked at the others. “I need a few of you to work on the potions, and others to prepare the ingredients and formulas.” The corner of her mouth curled up in a little smirk. “Let’s get to work, tonight you’ll be my own personal Hogwarts.”
“Cool.” Gabe grinned, and William rolled his eyes, then glared at Maja.
~
For the following six hours everyone worked on the traps, trying not to mess up the potions, while Maja kept walking around, giving instructions.
“C’mon, we’re almost done.” Maja sighed, eyeing the result of William’s attempts. “Bill, I love you, you know that, right?” William looked at the orange puddle of unknown liquid in his bowl, dejected. “But please, don’t try magic ever again. For your sake.”
“Aww, poor Bill.” Sisky mocked him from the seat in front of him across the table, proud of his job.
“Shut up.” William muttered, throwing away his work and getting ready to try again. “I’ll do it.”
“They’ll be here tomorrow, dollface.” Gabe bumped his shoulder in William’s and offered him a warm smile.
“Fuck off.” William glared at him, his eyes narrowed, and stubbornly avoided looking at Gabe’s perfect result. “I can do this.”
“You have other talents, you know?” Gabe looked at him, one eyebrow arched.
“No details, thanks.” Patrick said immediately, gaining a glare from William.
“Just be careful.” Maja smiled as well, walking towards Ryan.
“I can do this.” William repeated, as he watched the table with a pout. Almost everyone had the bowl filled with a dense green something, and Sisky seemed to be the best of them at it. “You have a future as a wizard, Adam.” William offered Sisky his best ‘I’m gonna kill you in your sleep’ smile, well aware that the boy hated to be called by his first name.
“You’re trying to piss me off just ‘cause you’re jealous.” Sisky grinned without looking up, and Mike snickered from beside him. “But yeah, I’ll be a great wizard one day.”
“I’ll take you up on that.” Maja grinned as she walked by, bringing more ingredients.
William pouted again, focusing his attention back on the potion.
“Want some help?” Gabe asked warily, not a trace of mocking in his voice.
“Nope. I’ll do it, I know I can.” William was looking at his now empty bowl like it had The Butcher’s face on it, his eyes narrowed and his lips set in a thin line.
Pete entered the kitchen and looked around, a bit perplexed. “I need six long distance shooters.”
“Count me in.” William said immediately, raising his hand. At Gabe’s amused frown, he shrugged. “What? You said I had other talents.”
“Okay, Bill, then obviously Mike and Travis, since you can’t walk without crutches, and Dirnt.” Pete looked around the room, nodding slowly. “Vicky, perfect. Another one?”
“I’m still pretty good with guns.” Tom offered quietly, looking at Pete like he expected the vampire to eat him alive. “I mean, I can fight outside if you want, I…”
“Good, this makes the six of you.” Pete threw a calm glance at Tom, and saw the boy sigh in relief. “You’ll be at the windows with the modified M4s. As soon as you’re finished here, join me in the library.”
~
Two hours later, everyone was finished, and Maja gathered all the potions in a few runes-covered jars in her lab.
“How long before we can place them?” Pete asked as she returned in the library, obviously tired.
“Three hours.” Maja looked around, worried. “It’s almost dawn, we should probably get some rest or something.”
“I agree.” Sisky muttered from the couch, his face buried in Alex’s neck.
Pete nodded and let himself fall on an empty armchair. “Go to bed, I’ll wake you before sunset. Make sure it won’t take you days to be ready.”
“Sure, boss.” William stood from the couch, immediately followed by Gabe, as the group slowly headed upstairs.
The only one who remained behind was Patrick, who kept his seat on the couch next to the fire. When he was sure he and Pete were alone, he looked at his boyfriend. “What about me?”
“What?” Pete looked at him, well aware of what Patrick was about to say.
“Do you really think I’ll just sit on my ass and wait?” Patrick asked in a quiet, reasonable voice.
Pete stood from his seat and reached the werewolf, not breaking their eye contact once. When he reached Patrick, he kneeled in front of him, smiling. “If you try to take a step out of our room, I’ll lock you up in the first empty cell I can find.”
“Pete, you can’t --” Patrick started to protest, but Pete put a finger on his lips.
“I can. And I will.” Pete trailed his hand to cup the werewolf’s cheek, smiling warmly. “You’re the most important entity to me. In this and in every other possible world and level of existence.”
“You can’t protect me forever.” Patrick bit on his lip, genuinely touched by Pete’s words and by the look of desperate love in the vampire’s eyes.
“I can protect you today. Let me.” Pete rested his head on Patrick’s uninjured knee, closing his eyes. “Trick, please.”
Patrick brought his hand to Pete’s head, trailing his fingers in the black hair. “Okay.” He whispered, surprised to feel his eyes water. “Okay.” He felt the tension leave Pete’s shoulders and smiled. “Hey, c’mere.”
Pete looked up and saw a tear fall down Patrick’s cheek, but the smile on the werewolf’s lips confirmed that yeah, Patrick was going to do as Pete had asked, for once. The vampire mirrored the smile, slowly raising to his feet, then sat down next to Patrick, who buried his face in the crook of Pete’s neck.
“I love you too, you overprotective control freak.” Patrick whispered against Pete’s skin, smirking.
Pete laughed quietly, pulling Patrick closer, careful with the wounds. For several seconds they didn’t talk, enjoying the peace before the battle. “You know, I was thinking…” Pete said after a while. “We should totally get a dog.”
Patrick hummed something against the vampire’s neck, but Pete just smiled, realizing the werewolf was probably already sleeping.
~~
A day later
“Okay, the traps are placed, the shooters are ready and we all have enough guns and sunlight bullets to take down an army of vampires.” Pete looked around, satisfied with the defense they had managed to put together with a little less than 24 hours.
“You sure you can walk?” Keltie asked Dirnt, eyeing his leg.
“It’s just a contusion, nothing major, looked worse than it felt.” Dirnt offered her a grateful smile, and the girl nodded, reassured.
“Keltie.” Tré called, reaching Keltie as she walked away.
“What?” She asked with a flat tone, not hostile but not exactly welcoming.
“Can you at least acknowledge the fact that I’ve been desperately trying to get a smile out of you?” Tré looked at her with a half smile, not sure he was doing the right thing.
“Why?” Keltie asked, genuinely curious, while she started to check her gun and the bullets.
“Well, first, I’m a dork, and I like making people laugh. Second, you’re a beautiful person who’s trying to help Bob Bryar out of his post-traumatic crisis even if no one asked you to.” Tré smiled when he saw the surprise in Keltie’s eyes. “Third, you are pretty hot, as a regular condition, but you’re downright gorgeous when you smile, and it doesn’t happen enough in my opinion. And fourth --”
Keltie moved faster than Tré had thought she could, so it took him a couple of seconds to realize that the girl was kissing him. It was quick and unexpected, but Tré returned it, and when Keltie withdrew, she was smiling at the dumbfounded expression on Tré’s face.
“Fourth?” Keltie asked with a smirk.
“Fourth…” Tré frowned, trying to remember what he was about to say. “Uh, well, I…I think I forgot.” He admitted, scratching his neck.
Keltie laughed, shaking his head. “You’ll have to come up with something more if you want to get to second base, Mr. Cool.” She grinned and walked towards Haley and Cassie, who had been watching the scene.
“By the way, his real name is Frank Wright. Nothing cool, in any way.” Dirnt informed the girl as she walked by, and Tré glared at him.
“Shut up, Pritchard.” Tré retorted, narrowing his eyes at the tall man.
Pete was about to step in and tell them to both shut up, but the alarms went off and everyone hurried to their position.
“They’re at the front gate.” Maja’s voice informed from the control room. “They’re roughly seventy, a lot will get caught in the traps.”
“Good. Stay there and keep an eye on them. As soon as they’re all inside, lock the gate.” Pete replied, turning towards the corner where he knew one of the surveillance cams was.
“Roger, boss.” Maja’s voice was steady, but William could hear the tension in it. “Be careful.”
Pete nodded and took a deep breath, while William looked in the sight of his sunlight-filled bullets loaded M4 Carbine, immediately spotting Gerard Way.
“Okay guys, wait for my signal to fire.” Pete cocked his gun, his face expressionless. “Let’s try to catch Gerard, Frank and Brent alive, the others are fair game.” For a few seconds he kept looking outside, careful not to be seen from their enemies.
Suddenly a group of vampires stepped on the first trap, triggering it into action. Gerard yelled to slow down and don’t get caught, but after a few seconds, a lot of his vampires ended up locked in the magical fields.
“Fire! Now!” Pete yelled, then opened the door and aimed for the nearest vampire, hitting him twice. The hunters with the guns moved from one window to another to confuse the vampires outside, but the six shooters with the M4s kept firing at a steady rhythm.
“You didn’t expect this Gee, did you?” William muttered with hatred just before shooting a blond girl who was getting too close to the house.
“Don’t talk to the gun, buddy, you’ll look psychotic.” Chizz warned him with a grin. “Save all the nasty words for the moment we catch those bastards.”
William smirked at that, killing another vampire without even flinching. Since he’d been turned, his senses had improved incredibly, and he wondered if his aim would have been that good with his old human sight.
He stopped thinking about it when a group of vampires closed around Gerard and Frank as a shield, clearly heading for the house. William tried to kill as many as he could, but ten seconds later they reached the door and rushed inside, past Pete and Ryland’s defense.
“Rifles keep the others outside, we’ll take care of the ones inside.” Pete yelled over the noise, then shut the door.
The little group scattered and Gabe immediately killed one of them with a bullet in the forehead. Brendon reloaded his gun and looked around, spotting Brent not far. He was heading towards Ryan a smug grin on his face, and the younger vampire was too busy to notice him.
“Fucking son of a bitch.” Brendon growled, running after Brent with his gun ready.
As soon as Ryan killed the vampire he was fighting against, he turned and froze when he saw Brent. They both raised their gun, aiming at each other’s chest, but Brendon was faster and shot Wilson in the leg, causing him to fall to the ground under Ryan’s surprised gaze.
“Don’t even think about hurting him again, you fucking bastard.” Brendon growled, placing his foot on Brent’s neck.
“C’mon, kill me.” Brent managed to breathe out, despite the pressure on his throat. “What are you waiting for?”
“Brendon, no.” Ryan put a hand on Brendon’s arm, his voice hurried. “Pete said to get him alive.”
“I don’t care.” Brendon replied, his eyes locked with Brent’s not slightly scared ones.
“Brendon.” Ryan repeated, hoping his boyfriend was going to listen to him. “Let’s just --”
Ryan shut up abruptly when Brendon placed a bullet in Brent’s forehead without warning. Before Brent turned into dust, Brendon pointed at the vampire’s hand on a gun, index on the trigger. “I’m not taking chances.”
Ryan looked as the body turned to dust, then looked at Brendon with a half apologetic half worried glance. When they both turned they saw Gerard Way and Frank standing in the middle of the room, pointing their guns at Gabe and Pete, who were pointing theirs at the intruders. The other vampires that had broken in with them - they couldn’t have been more than ten - were all dead. The hunters with the M4s were still keeping an eye on the outside, but they had stopped shooting.
“Put your guns down.” Pete warned, barely repressing his rage.
“Only after killing you.” Gerard growled, just as furious. “You fucking bastard, you killed my little brother.”
William heard those words and gestured Chizz to take his place at the M4, immediately reaching the group, a gun in his hand. “Mikey died because of the war you caused.”
“Don’t even say his name, you little slut.” Gerard’s eyes flashed grey, his fangs growing quickly.
“Mikey died to save Patrick.” Gabe said quietly, his eyes moving from Gerard to Frank. “He made his choice, he wanted to pay for what he made you do ninety years ago.”
Frank immediately looked at Pete at that, and the corners of his mouth curled in a wicked smile. “You got there in time, then?” Frank asked, seeing Gerard tense beside him. “I wish I was there. You should have seen how he screamed the first time.”
Pete didn’t even flinch as he pulled the trigger, his gun pointed at Frank’s chest. The bullet hit him a moment later, reaching his heart.
“Frank!” Gerard yelled as his mate turned into dust under his eyes. Without thinking twice he shot in Pete’s direction, but somehow the bullet reached William instead, grazing his leg. The young vampire fell on his knees with a shout, and Gabe shot Gerard in the arm, causing him to drop the gun.
“I’m sorry, Gee.” Gabe shook his head slowly, trying to keep his face emotionless, although his voice showed his hurt. “You had your chance.”
Gabe cocked his gun and prepared to shoot, despite the desperate and angry look in Gerard’s eyes. Before he could pull the trigger, though, another bullet reached Gerard in the heart.
“That’s for Mikey, you son of a bitch.” William muttered, putting the gun down and bringing his hand back to the wound. It wasn’t deep, but it burned a lot more than the previous time.
Gabe kneeled immediately, pulling William against his chest. “Why?”
“I couldn’t let you kill him.” William smiled up at him through the pain. “You’re his Sire.”
“Oh God, Bill.” Gabe whispered against William’s temple, then placed a soft kiss on the skin. “Can you get up?”
“Just give me a minute.” William replied, nodding and taking a deep breath.
“Sure, dollface.” Gabe rested his forehead against William’s, smiling softly. “We have all the time in the world.”
~~
Epilogue
Six months later
William opened the door and hesitated a couple of seconds before stepping inside. He and Gabe had stayed at Pete’s house for a couple of weeks after they had solved the Way clan problem.
Gabe entered right after him, and they closed the door behind them, looking around.
After a long group talk in which Brendon had reminded everyone he’d asked to be turned already weeks before, when Ryan had been turned, Ryan had finally given in to his boyfriend’s insistence and Gabe had offered to turn Brendon, since Pete couldn’t.
Things had happened faster than they had imagined and Maja had been able to de-turn Billie Joe, also thanks to one of Gabe’s silver Phoenix feathers. Brendon, on the other hand, hadn’t stopped bouncing around for over an hour, announcing he was a vampire.
Right after that Gabe and William had left, determined to take their minds off everything for a while now that things were under control.
That while had turned out to be six months spent in the extreme North, where the polar night had allowed them to travel around without much trouble. Not that they had left their bedroom for too long, anyway.
“About time you showed your sorry asses back here.” Billie Joe commented from the doorstep on their right, and they both turned to look at him.
“Hey shortie.” Gabe greeted him, and gained a sarcastic smile from the hunter. “Very human shortie.”
“Yeah, well, fishing for more ‘thank you’ and ‘we adore you’, Gabe?” Maja appeared behind Billie Joe, smiling widely.
“Something like that.” Gabe grinned, gaining a glare from Billie Joe.
“Good to have you back home. Had fun?” Maja shook her head, chuckling.
“A lot.” William grinned, putting his bag down. “News in the house?”
“Come see for yourself.” Maja gestured them to go in the library, and Gabe put both their bags near the door. “Guess who’s finally back!” Maja announced, walking back in the room.
When William and Gabe stepped in, the first thing the younger vampire noticed was a white bulldog puppy with a brown ear.
“Guys meet Hemingway.” Pete grinned from his seat on the couch, and Patrick waved happily at them from beside him. “Hemmy, you’re allowed to bite Saporta whenever you want.”
“I missed you too, Filthy Petey.” Gabe grinned, bending down to scratch the dog behind the ear.
“Oh my God.” William suddenly said, his eyes wide open, and Gabe stood quickly, following his gaze.
“There’s my little girl here.” Mike proudly announced as he rested a hand on Cassie’s visibly enlarged belly.
“We don’t really know, we want it to be a surprise, but he’s sure it’s a girl.” Cassie rolled her eyes, her hand covering Mike’s one.
“Congratulation guys.” William smiled widely and shook his head, still a bit shocked.
“While you’re at it, why don’t you congratulate Travie and Vicky as well?” Patrick nodded towards the couple, who was sharing an armchair near the empty fireplace.
“No babies yet.” Vicky smiled, holding up her left hand. “But we’re getting married.”
“Whoa.” William chuckled, unbelieving. “I think we missed quite a few things, uh?”
“Yeah, peace has this effect on people.” Pete laughed at William and Gabe’s surprised faces.
“Anything else we should know?” Gabe sat down on the couch, pulling William’s in his lap.
“Well, a few things, actually. Joe’s staying with us for now, Tré and Keltie have been officially dating…” Maja started to list, counting on her fingers. “Then Jon and Spencer are leaving us for Boringland in a few weeks, Bob Bryar is doing much better and Sisky decided he’s ready to embrace magic, and now he’s my apprentice.” Maja finished, looking up with a grin.
“Boringland?” William laughed, shaking his head.
“We’re leaving the business.” Jon said from the doorstep, and both William and Gabe turned to look at him. “At least for now.” Spencer reached Jon and they both walked in.
Before William could reply, Ryan entered quickly, announcing that dinner was ready. When he saw Gabe and William, he reached them quickly and hugged both of them. “I’m sure we can manage to fit in the kitchen.”
~~
Patrick saw Pete standing in front of the window, looking outside. “A penny for your thoughts.”
“They’re not so cheap.” Pete glanced at his boyfriend, smiling, then turned and rested his back against the window. “I was thinking about that vacation we were planning.”
“Really?” Patrick walked towards the vampire, his limping barely visible. “We can’t leave before Vicky and Travis’ wedding. And we should celebrate or something, after Gabe and Bill’s ritual.”
“Yeah, I think we can wait ‘til then.” Pete smiled and pulled Patrick in a loose hug.
“And I don’t wanna miss Mike’s face when he’ll see his baby for the first time.” Patrick rested his head against Pete’s shoulder, relaxing in his arms.
“You really don’t want this vacation, uh?” Pete joked, placing a soft kiss on Patrick’s unusually hatless head.
“Family comes first.” The werewolf closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of Pete’s lips. “Then we’ll go on vacation.”
“Deal.” Pete whispered against Patrick’s hair, taking a deep breath. “Let’s go downstairs, the family is probably already betting on who’s topping right now.”
With a wholehearted laughter Patrick broke the embrace, and they both headed for the door.
~
“So…doctor Walker and professor Smith, uh?” William rested his back against the wall next to the window, looking at his friends.
“Yeah.” Jon smiled widely. “But don’t worry, we’ll still be around here.”
“How are you gonna pay for college if you both won’t work?” Gabe asked, frowning a bit.
“We’ll find part time jobs or something.” Spencer shrugged, looking up from his book with a little smile.
“What about this?” Gabe handed something to Jon, and saw the boy’s eyes widen in surprise.
“What- no, we can’t-” Spencer shook his head, standing quickly from his seat, and reached Jon.
“You can.” William smiled, looking at his friends’ incredulous smiles as Jon held the silver Phoenix feather in his hands.
“Silver Phoenixes weren’t extinct when I was turned, and my Sire gave me four feathers.” Gabe explained and walked up behind William, then circled the other vampire’s waist with his arms. “I still had two, and we thought that you should have this one.”
“You can sell it and keep the money, it’ll make things easier.” William suggested, leaning back in the hug and smiling fondly.
“I don’t know what to say.” Jon shook his head, still unbelieving. “Why us?”
“Gifts don’t have reasons.” Gabe shrugged, resting his chin on William’s shoulder. “Just be happy.”
“Actually, I have a present too. For Gabe and Bill.” Maja stood from the table, keeping something behind her back. “It took me a while, but I managed to fix this.”
The witch handed the two vampires a digital camera, and William took it with an amused frown. “My old camera?”
“I said I fixed it.” Maja rolled her eyes, taking the camera back and switching it on. She held it up and snapped a picture, grinning.
“Maja, vampires don’t appear in photos.” Gabe chuckled, confused.
“They can’t see their reflection in the mirror either, but as you might have noticed, mirrors in this house reflect you.” Maja arched an eyebrow, shaking her head in exasperation while she handed the camera back to William. “If I managed to do that, I couldn’t ignore the possibility of doing this.”
“It’s us.” William’s smile widened as he saw the picture on the little screen of the camera. “Maja, it’s…”
“Amazingly wonderful, I know.” Maja laughed at the sheer happiness on the vampire’s face. “I’m that awesome.”
“Well, we should take a picture together.” Gabe proposed, looking around. “Everyone.”
It took a couple of minutes to get everybody ready, but finally they managed to leave no one outside the range of the camera.
“Who’s gonna take it?” Pete asked, frowning, as everyone looked around.
“I’ll do it.” Tom took the camera with a smile, gesturing Maja to join the group.
“No, you’d be left out.” William bit on his lower lip, looking at his friend. They hadn’t spent much time together since his return, but he was glad to have him back on the good side. Somehow, William knew there was going to be a lot of time to fix things between the two of them.
“It’s not big deal.” Tom shrugged, a little smile tugging at his lips.
“It is.” William insisted, gesturing him to get his ass back in place.
“C’mon, I’ll set it on automatic.” Maja rolled her eyes, taking the camera from Tom again. “Go.”
A couple of minutes and three attempts later, William was looking in the little screen, beaming. Gabe watched him while the boy watched the picture, then moved his gaze to the people around them. Without thinking about it, he placed a kiss on William’s temple and pulled him closer, feeling at home for the first time in a long while.
~~
end
A/N: Only…not really. Just for now. LOL
I mean, chapter 24 was supposed to be the end, then I decided to write a sequel and I added the epilogue for two reasons.
First because I don’t like rushed endings and didn’t want to squeeze everything into chapter 24, and even a chapter 25 wouldn’t have been enough.
And second, because I wanted to ‘prepare the ground’ for the sequel, introducing things like vampire!Brendon, Cassie and Mike’s baby, Tom being back, the Joe/Haley thing and Tré/Keltie. They’re just kind of mentioned here, but that’s only because I didn’t want to develop them in one or two chapters, so they’ll all be explored in the sequel. Along with other stuff.
It’ll be set a month after the epilogue, it’ll have new bad guys and, well, more drama of course. I don’t know exactly when I’ll post the sequel, but I hope it won’t take too long.
Most important of all…THANK YOU. For your awesome and constant support through all this, and really, it’s totally thanks to you if there’s gonna be a sequel. So yeah, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.
And see you soon, you awesome people.
<33333JenJM
Author: JenJM (me)
Pairing: Gabe/William, Mikey/William, Pete/Patrick, Brendon/Ryan, Jon/Spencer and many a few others.
Rating: NC-17 overall
Characters: Gabe Saporta, William Beckett, Pete Wentz, Patrick Stump, Mikey Way, others. Pretty much everyone from Cobras, Academy, FOB and MCR. Plus Maja Ivarsson of The Sounds, and I can tell you Green Day will appear somewhere along the way.
Word count: 96,000 total words
Warnings: language, blood, violence, killings, all the stuff you can find in a story where people kill vampires and vice versa. But these vampires have sense of humor.
Disclaimer: Gabe and William aren’t mine ç_ç they belong to each other themselves. Actually no one in here belongs to me, and it’s so sad.
I really don’t mean to offend anyone and nothing of what I wrote in this story is to be considered real, it’s all fiction.
Author’s Notes: Pete being a vampire and hunting others vampires is kinda taken from FOB’s video for “Sixteen candles”, all the other stuff is a product of my twisted mind.
Title from Cobra Starship’s “Prostitution is the world’s oldest profession (And I, dear Madame, am a professional)”.
As ever, feel free to report any mistake. Constructive criticism is welcome, feedback makes me happy!
Beta: my dear and patient
nejem
Summary: “In his late years, Gabe Saporta had come to consider himself a peaceful, harmless, even funny vampire. He rarely killed anyone, when he fed he always left his victims where they could be easily found and rescued, and sure thing he never wanted to be part of any clan ever again.” But his plans are ruined when he gets caught by a vampire hunters clan led by Pete Wentz, and things take an interesting path when William Beckett, a young hunter, becomes his jailer. Meanwhile Ryan Ross gets kidnapped by someone they didn’t expect to see again, and the clan has to find him before it’s too late.
Crossposted. Like, a lot.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
“How’s your leg?” Cassie approached the bed where Mike was sitting with his back against the headboard and watching television.
“Itches under the cast, but fine.” Mike addressed her a little smile, shrugging. “Besides, America’s Next Top Model is making my day much brighter. I mean, it can’t compete with Desperate Housewives or Gilmore Girls, but still.” Cassie laughed at that, then saw Mike turn off the television. “I knew there was a reason I didn’t watch TV.”
“C’mon, they’re not that bad.” Cassie snickered at the surprised look Mike addressed her.
“You actually watch Gilmore Girls?” Mike asked, not totally convinced by the whole thing.
“What do you think me, Keltie and Haley do when we spend the night in their room?” Cassie laughed, shaking her head.
“Uh, naked pillow fight and lesbo sex?” Mike tried, but only gained a soft slap on his arm.
“You have a twisted mind.” Cassie threw him an amused and teasing glance, grinning. “I mean, we’re still girls, we’re young, and we want to have fun.”
“Stop it, you’ll get me horny.” Mike shook his head, closing his eyes.
“Pig.” Cassie slapped him again, harder this time, and Mike looked at her, surprised.
“Sue me.” The hunter smirked, his hand massaging the spot Cassie had hit a moment before. “I mean, TV sucks, my twisted mind is apparently the only thing I have to distract myself.”
“You know, we could…” Cassie started to say, but hesitated when she saw the curious look on Mike’s face. “Never mind.”
“What?” Mike asked, confused by her behavior. “C’mon, I promise I won’t get mad if you’re about to suggest doing a race down the corridor.”
Cassie laughed and shook her head, amused. “No, I was thinking that we could like, go downtown or something. To distract you from your forced rest and the tv shows, and to keep your twisted mind busy.”
“Well…you like circus?” Mike asked with a genuine smile.
“Actually, yeah, I love it.” Cassie admitted, visibly more relaxed.
“There’s one not far from here.” Mike played with the remote in his hands, looking at the girl. “We could, you know…”
“Go there?” Cassie finished for him, gaining a hesitant nod. “Sure.”
For a few seconds neither of them talked, both trying to go past that sudden awkwardness. After a couple of minutes, Cassie nodded and walked towards the door. “I’ll go change my clothes and I’ll be back.”
“Cassie.” Mike called her, amusement filling his voice. She stopped with her fingers closed on the handle and turned to look at the boy. “We share the room, your clothes are here.”
“Oh, right.” Cassie felt herself blush for the embarrassment and Mike gestured her to get closer.
“If you’re not at ease with this, we can stay here.” Mike smiled reassuringly at her, shrugging. “It’s not big deal.”
Cassie looked at him with a serious expression, then sat down on the bed next to him. “Are we…dating or something?”
“I dunno, I guess we could be.” Mike replied with a careful tone, not wanting to make the girl run. “I mean, I’d be glad if we did.”
“You’d be glad?” Cassie asked with a skeptical tone, her self-confidence coming back all at once.
“I’d love it.” Mike admitted with a smirk, and saw the tension leave the girl’s shoulders.
“Then I guess we’re dating.” Cassie nodded slowly, then bit on her lower lip to keep from smiling.
“Are we?” Mike tilted his head to the side, leaning towards her.
“We totally are.” Cassie smiled and let the boy kiss her, her hand resting on Mike’s neck.
~~
The library was quiet despite the people inside, and Joe stopped on the doorstep, looking around. Keltie was reading a small book in an armchair by the fire, while Tré and Dirnt were playing chess on the couch. Travis was sitting in front of them, earphones in both his ears; he was bobbing his head at the rhythm of the music but his eyes never left the game. Vicky was sitting next to him, her laptop on her legs.
No one noticed he was standing there and he just leaned against the doorframe, a little smile on his lips. That was what Patrick called ‘home’, and Joe was starting to understand why. He missed his pack and his friends, and his heart ached every time he heard Andy’s name, but he was starting to feel at ease with Wentz’ guys, and the thing surprised him.
Haley reached him and rested her chin on his shoulder, without saying a word. Apparently Dirnt noticed the movement this time and looked up, surprised.
“Hey, how are you doing?” Tré smiled to the werewolf, gesturing him to join them.
“Better.” Joe offered him a grateful nod and walked in, his hand holding Haley’s. “Who’s winning?”
“Me.” Tré proudly replied, and Joe arched an eyebrow, surprised.
“For the third time in a row.” Dirnt muttered, glaring at his friend and causing Vicky to snicker.
“Uh, Mike.” Tré called, his voice clearly showing his amusement.
“Oh, please, not again.” Keltie looked in their direction, exasperated.
“Checkmate.” Tré knocked down Mike’s king and grinned widely, standing form his seat. “This mean you lose. Again.” He started a little happy dance, swinging his hips. “And I win. Again.”
“Let’s see if you can beat me.” Joe looked directly at Tré with a knowing smirk, but the hunter didn’t let it scare him.
“He’s all yours.” Dirnt stood from his seat and gestured Joe to sit down. “Hurt him, please.”
Joe laughed at that, stretching his neck while Tré put the pieces at their places.
“Joe, he’s like a chess wizard or something.” Keltie warned him, while Haley took the seat next to him.
“You noticed.” Tré looked at Keltie with a wide smile, almost bouncy.
“Well, it’s hard not to notice it, since you do that stupid happy dance every time you win.” Keltie shook her head and stood from the armchair, putting the book on the coffee table.
“Where are you going?” Tré looked at her with a frown, obviously worried.
“I’m going to check on the prisoners and bring Bryar some blood.” Keltie shrugged and reached the door slowly.
“You’d rather do that than stay here and watch me win for the fourth time?” The hunter looked halfway between offended and hurt, and Dirnt shook his head while Joe repressed a grin.
“Definitely.” Keltie smirked one last time at him, then walked out of the door.
“You can’t go! You’re my good luck charm!” Tré yelled after her, but she was gone and Vicky offered him a nacho chip as a consolation. “She hates me.” Tré muttered, chewing the chip and moving one of his pieces.
“She likes you.” Haley smirked, resting her head on Joe’s shoulder. “She’s just too proud to give in at the first attempt.”
“And the second, third and fourth.” Vicky added, and Travis snickered quietly.
“Just keep trying.” Joe smiled to the hunter, moving his piece. “I mean, first time I tried to kiss Haley, she slapped me so hard I thought my neck was gonna snap.”
“He got me in a wrong moment.” Haley scratched her neck and smiled a little at the others surprised glances. “Werewolves in bad moments aren’t cute.”
“Remind me to never get you in a wrong moment.” Tré swallowed and his worried glance caused the others to burst out laughing.
~~
“I’m not sure you’re gonna like this but…” Billie Joe grinned as he entered the room, his eyes immediately finding the witch. “Love is in the air.”
“Everybody’s got someone to shag in this house.” Maja admitted with an identical grin, finding Billie Joe’s entry just a bit weird. “Well, except Tré and Mike.” She added with a thoughtful expression. “And Keltie.” Maja shrugged, then scratched her head for a second. “Okay, maybe not everybody.” She realized Billie Joe had been watching her for the whole time with a little smirk and frowned, curious. “What?”
“I wasn’t talking about the Wentz motel.” Billie Joe approached the girl and circled her waist with an arm. “I was talking about me.”
“Oh.” Maja simply said, blinking. “Oh!” She repeated as she realized what those words meant. She turned in the hug and looked at the vampire in the eye. “Oh?”
“Not the best declaration in the history of human and vampire kind, but still…yeah.” Billie Joe admitted with a little smirk.
“And you chose this particular moment to tell me because…” Maja’s smile was halfway between ecstatic and confused.
“It took me half an hour to gather enough guts to actually say it, and I didn’t want the moment to pass.” Billie Joe admitted, raising his hand to put a strand of Maja’s hair behind her ear. “And I’m so glad you’re not throwing some weird voodoo curse at me, right now.”
“I’m done with the curses and the magic tricks.” Maja smiled, her arms circling the vampire’s neck.
“Tell me I’m not dreaming.” Billie Joe whispered on her lips, grinning.
“If you are, don’t you dare to wake up or I’ll hunt your ass down.” Maja replied, looking at him in the eye, then kissed him slowly, feeling her heart swell.
When someone knocked on the door, the witch felt a sudden homicidal impulse towards whoever the visitor was. They barely had the time to end the kiss before Pete opened the door without waiting for a reply.
“I seriously hope you have a good reason for this, Wentz.” Maja hissed, looking at the boss with a threatening glare.
“Uh, kinda.” Pete raised an eyebrow, actually a bit scared by the girl’s tone, while Billie Joe was trying to hide his smirk. “I mean, Gerard Way’s really really pissed and he’s coming here with his clan. How’s that on your ‘it’d better be good or I’m turning you into a toad right on the spot’ scale?”
“Fairly bad.” Maja muttered, and Pete looked at her with a suspicious glance. “It means your ass is safe. This time.”
“They don’t know we know.” Pete explained, much calmer. “Is there a way to avoid fighting and just, you know, catch them?”
“I do magic, not miracles.” Maja frowned, thinking fast. “We could place traps, like magical fields and stuff in the garden, and they’d turn into dust as soon as the sun rises. But we won’t catch all of them.”
“We have good long distance shooters, hopefully only a dozen will get to the house.” Pete nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer.
“Who told you about Gerard?” Billie Joe asked, curiosity and worry fighting in his gaze.
“Butch Walker.” Pete smirked, seeing both his friends frown in disbelief.
“C’mon, seriously, who told you?” Maja addressed him her best ‘not in the mood for jokes’ look.
“Butch. Walker.” Pete repeated slowly, making sure she understood. “I’m not kidding. I talked to him on the phone like, ten minutes ago.”
“That’s it, the world’s ending, the sun’s gonna explode. Or worse.” Maja shook her head, chuckling and Billie Joe laughed at Pete’s exasperated expression.
~~
Later that day
“We’ve got a problem.” Pete announced as he entered the library where Billie Joe had gathered everyone.
“No circus.” Mike sighed, sitting on the couch and gaining a little smile from Cassie.
“What’s the matter?” Gabe asked, not looking away from the other vampire.
“Gerard Way.” Pete glanced at Patrick as the werewolf reached them, helped by his crutches, Maja walking by his side. “He’s coming here with his clan.”
“He wants the book.” Chizz raised an eyebrow, shaking his head.
“And he wants revenge.” William added, his tone flat. “For Mikey.”
“What are we gonna do?” Ryan asked, not entirely sure he wanted to hear the answer.
“Luckily we know they’re coming here, so we have time to get ready.” Pete nodded towards Maja, and everyone turned to look at her.
“I put together this sort of plan to defend the house and stop as many vampires as we can.” Maja looked around, seeing everyone paying attention to her words. “All the stuff we need is here, so we just have to prepare and set the traps.” She let out a little sigh, a little apologetic smile on her lips. “But we don’t have much time, so I’ll need help from all of you.”
“To do what?” Brendon frowned, clearly confused by the witch’s words.
“To prepare my magical tricks.” Maja explained with a little grin. “Don’t worry, nothing too dangerous, but we have to prepare and set the traps before morning.”
“It’s gonna be a long night.” Ryland shook his head, his eyes finding Chizz’ worried ones.
“Also.” Maja continued, and everyone turned to look at her again. “While I was at it I took a quick look at the ingredients for the de-turning potion.”
“De-turning?” William asked with a grin, not completely convinced.
“Yeah, well, I haven’t named it yet.” Maja waved at him distractedly, but her smile disappeared after a few seconds. “There’s a problem.”
“What an unusual sentence, lately.” Alex arched his eyebrow, sarcastic.
“We need another silver Phoenix feather…” Maja started, her voice quiet and wary.
“Not a problem.” Gabe shrugged immediately, looking at her.
“…and blood of a newly turned vampire.” Maja finished, and everyone turned to look at William.
“I’m a newly turned vampire.” The boy said, both his eyebrows shooting up.
“By newly, I mean a vampire that has been turned less than 48 hours before the blood is taken.” Maja saw Billie Joe close his eyes and take a deep breath, and she had to fight the urge to walk there and hug him.
“I’ll do it.” Brendon stood from his seat on the couch, ignoring the way Ryan was looking at him. “Turn me, and use my blood.”
“No, if we turn you, and Ryan is de-turned or whatever it’s called, the problem won’t be solved at all. It’ll be…flipped.” Pete shook his head, addressing Brendon an eloquent look.
“But if you turn me, and use the potion for Billie Joe, the problem will be solved.” Brendon replied, his voice steady and his eyes locked with Pete’s surprised ones.
“Brendon, no.” Ryan stood quickly, forcing his boyfriend to turn and look at him.
“You wanted this.” Brendon smiled at the vampire, no trace of grudge in voice.
“But you didn’t.” Ryan protested, shaking his head with decision.
“Guys, maybe you should talk about this in private.” Maja suggested, a concerned frown on her face.
“No, it’s something that will affect the family.” Brendon looked at her, then at Pete, determined.
“I can’t turn you.” Pete sighed, seeing the boy’s smile fade slowly. “I’m Ryan’s Sire, and if I turned you as well, you two wouldn’t be allowed to be together.”
“You gave me your word!” Brendon took a step towards Pete, furious, but Ryan held him back.
“Guys!” Maja stepped towards Brendon and took a deep breath. “Let’s just take care of Frank and Gerard, then we’ll solve this. We have time.”
Brendon looked at her, ready to reply something bitter and probably rude, but then saw the genuine concern in her gaze and bit it back. “Okay.” He just said, throwing a furious glance at Pete.
“Good.” Maja turned and looked at the others. “I need a few of you to work on the potions, and others to prepare the ingredients and formulas.” The corner of her mouth curled up in a little smirk. “Let’s get to work, tonight you’ll be my own personal Hogwarts.”
“Cool.” Gabe grinned, and William rolled his eyes, then glared at Maja.
~
For the following six hours everyone worked on the traps, trying not to mess up the potions, while Maja kept walking around, giving instructions.
“C’mon, we’re almost done.” Maja sighed, eyeing the result of William’s attempts. “Bill, I love you, you know that, right?” William looked at the orange puddle of unknown liquid in his bowl, dejected. “But please, don’t try magic ever again. For your sake.”
“Aww, poor Bill.” Sisky mocked him from the seat in front of him across the table, proud of his job.
“Shut up.” William muttered, throwing away his work and getting ready to try again. “I’ll do it.”
“They’ll be here tomorrow, dollface.” Gabe bumped his shoulder in William’s and offered him a warm smile.
“Fuck off.” William glared at him, his eyes narrowed, and stubbornly avoided looking at Gabe’s perfect result. “I can do this.”
“You have other talents, you know?” Gabe looked at him, one eyebrow arched.
“No details, thanks.” Patrick said immediately, gaining a glare from William.
“Just be careful.” Maja smiled as well, walking towards Ryan.
“I can do this.” William repeated, as he watched the table with a pout. Almost everyone had the bowl filled with a dense green something, and Sisky seemed to be the best of them at it. “You have a future as a wizard, Adam.” William offered Sisky his best ‘I’m gonna kill you in your sleep’ smile, well aware that the boy hated to be called by his first name.
“You’re trying to piss me off just ‘cause you’re jealous.” Sisky grinned without looking up, and Mike snickered from beside him. “But yeah, I’ll be a great wizard one day.”
“I’ll take you up on that.” Maja grinned as she walked by, bringing more ingredients.
William pouted again, focusing his attention back on the potion.
“Want some help?” Gabe asked warily, not a trace of mocking in his voice.
“Nope. I’ll do it, I know I can.” William was looking at his now empty bowl like it had The Butcher’s face on it, his eyes narrowed and his lips set in a thin line.
Pete entered the kitchen and looked around, a bit perplexed. “I need six long distance shooters.”
“Count me in.” William said immediately, raising his hand. At Gabe’s amused frown, he shrugged. “What? You said I had other talents.”
“Okay, Bill, then obviously Mike and Travis, since you can’t walk without crutches, and Dirnt.” Pete looked around the room, nodding slowly. “Vicky, perfect. Another one?”
“I’m still pretty good with guns.” Tom offered quietly, looking at Pete like he expected the vampire to eat him alive. “I mean, I can fight outside if you want, I…”
“Good, this makes the six of you.” Pete threw a calm glance at Tom, and saw the boy sigh in relief. “You’ll be at the windows with the modified M4s. As soon as you’re finished here, join me in the library.”
~
Two hours later, everyone was finished, and Maja gathered all the potions in a few runes-covered jars in her lab.
“How long before we can place them?” Pete asked as she returned in the library, obviously tired.
“Three hours.” Maja looked around, worried. “It’s almost dawn, we should probably get some rest or something.”
“I agree.” Sisky muttered from the couch, his face buried in Alex’s neck.
Pete nodded and let himself fall on an empty armchair. “Go to bed, I’ll wake you before sunset. Make sure it won’t take you days to be ready.”
“Sure, boss.” William stood from the couch, immediately followed by Gabe, as the group slowly headed upstairs.
The only one who remained behind was Patrick, who kept his seat on the couch next to the fire. When he was sure he and Pete were alone, he looked at his boyfriend. “What about me?”
“What?” Pete looked at him, well aware of what Patrick was about to say.
“Do you really think I’ll just sit on my ass and wait?” Patrick asked in a quiet, reasonable voice.
Pete stood from his seat and reached the werewolf, not breaking their eye contact once. When he reached Patrick, he kneeled in front of him, smiling. “If you try to take a step out of our room, I’ll lock you up in the first empty cell I can find.”
“Pete, you can’t --” Patrick started to protest, but Pete put a finger on his lips.
“I can. And I will.” Pete trailed his hand to cup the werewolf’s cheek, smiling warmly. “You’re the most important entity to me. In this and in every other possible world and level of existence.”
“You can’t protect me forever.” Patrick bit on his lip, genuinely touched by Pete’s words and by the look of desperate love in the vampire’s eyes.
“I can protect you today. Let me.” Pete rested his head on Patrick’s uninjured knee, closing his eyes. “Trick, please.”
Patrick brought his hand to Pete’s head, trailing his fingers in the black hair. “Okay.” He whispered, surprised to feel his eyes water. “Okay.” He felt the tension leave Pete’s shoulders and smiled. “Hey, c’mere.”
Pete looked up and saw a tear fall down Patrick’s cheek, but the smile on the werewolf’s lips confirmed that yeah, Patrick was going to do as Pete had asked, for once. The vampire mirrored the smile, slowly raising to his feet, then sat down next to Patrick, who buried his face in the crook of Pete’s neck.
“I love you too, you overprotective control freak.” Patrick whispered against Pete’s skin, smirking.
Pete laughed quietly, pulling Patrick closer, careful with the wounds. For several seconds they didn’t talk, enjoying the peace before the battle. “You know, I was thinking…” Pete said after a while. “We should totally get a dog.”
Patrick hummed something against the vampire’s neck, but Pete just smiled, realizing the werewolf was probably already sleeping.
~~
A day later
“Okay, the traps are placed, the shooters are ready and we all have enough guns and sunlight bullets to take down an army of vampires.” Pete looked around, satisfied with the defense they had managed to put together with a little less than 24 hours.
“You sure you can walk?” Keltie asked Dirnt, eyeing his leg.
“It’s just a contusion, nothing major, looked worse than it felt.” Dirnt offered her a grateful smile, and the girl nodded, reassured.
“Keltie.” Tré called, reaching Keltie as she walked away.
“What?” She asked with a flat tone, not hostile but not exactly welcoming.
“Can you at least acknowledge the fact that I’ve been desperately trying to get a smile out of you?” Tré looked at her with a half smile, not sure he was doing the right thing.
“Why?” Keltie asked, genuinely curious, while she started to check her gun and the bullets.
“Well, first, I’m a dork, and I like making people laugh. Second, you’re a beautiful person who’s trying to help Bob Bryar out of his post-traumatic crisis even if no one asked you to.” Tré smiled when he saw the surprise in Keltie’s eyes. “Third, you are pretty hot, as a regular condition, but you’re downright gorgeous when you smile, and it doesn’t happen enough in my opinion. And fourth --”
Keltie moved faster than Tré had thought she could, so it took him a couple of seconds to realize that the girl was kissing him. It was quick and unexpected, but Tré returned it, and when Keltie withdrew, she was smiling at the dumbfounded expression on Tré’s face.
“Fourth?” Keltie asked with a smirk.
“Fourth…” Tré frowned, trying to remember what he was about to say. “Uh, well, I…I think I forgot.” He admitted, scratching his neck.
Keltie laughed, shaking his head. “You’ll have to come up with something more if you want to get to second base, Mr. Cool.” She grinned and walked towards Haley and Cassie, who had been watching the scene.
“By the way, his real name is Frank Wright. Nothing cool, in any way.” Dirnt informed the girl as she walked by, and Tré glared at him.
“Shut up, Pritchard.” Tré retorted, narrowing his eyes at the tall man.
Pete was about to step in and tell them to both shut up, but the alarms went off and everyone hurried to their position.
“They’re at the front gate.” Maja’s voice informed from the control room. “They’re roughly seventy, a lot will get caught in the traps.”
“Good. Stay there and keep an eye on them. As soon as they’re all inside, lock the gate.” Pete replied, turning towards the corner where he knew one of the surveillance cams was.
“Roger, boss.” Maja’s voice was steady, but William could hear the tension in it. “Be careful.”
Pete nodded and took a deep breath, while William looked in the sight of his sunlight-filled bullets loaded M4 Carbine, immediately spotting Gerard Way.
“Okay guys, wait for my signal to fire.” Pete cocked his gun, his face expressionless. “Let’s try to catch Gerard, Frank and Brent alive, the others are fair game.” For a few seconds he kept looking outside, careful not to be seen from their enemies.
Suddenly a group of vampires stepped on the first trap, triggering it into action. Gerard yelled to slow down and don’t get caught, but after a few seconds, a lot of his vampires ended up locked in the magical fields.
“Fire! Now!” Pete yelled, then opened the door and aimed for the nearest vampire, hitting him twice. The hunters with the guns moved from one window to another to confuse the vampires outside, but the six shooters with the M4s kept firing at a steady rhythm.
“You didn’t expect this Gee, did you?” William muttered with hatred just before shooting a blond girl who was getting too close to the house.
“Don’t talk to the gun, buddy, you’ll look psychotic.” Chizz warned him with a grin. “Save all the nasty words for the moment we catch those bastards.”
William smirked at that, killing another vampire without even flinching. Since he’d been turned, his senses had improved incredibly, and he wondered if his aim would have been that good with his old human sight.
He stopped thinking about it when a group of vampires closed around Gerard and Frank as a shield, clearly heading for the house. William tried to kill as many as he could, but ten seconds later they reached the door and rushed inside, past Pete and Ryland’s defense.
“Rifles keep the others outside, we’ll take care of the ones inside.” Pete yelled over the noise, then shut the door.
The little group scattered and Gabe immediately killed one of them with a bullet in the forehead. Brendon reloaded his gun and looked around, spotting Brent not far. He was heading towards Ryan a smug grin on his face, and the younger vampire was too busy to notice him.
“Fucking son of a bitch.” Brendon growled, running after Brent with his gun ready.
As soon as Ryan killed the vampire he was fighting against, he turned and froze when he saw Brent. They both raised their gun, aiming at each other’s chest, but Brendon was faster and shot Wilson in the leg, causing him to fall to the ground under Ryan’s surprised gaze.
“Don’t even think about hurting him again, you fucking bastard.” Brendon growled, placing his foot on Brent’s neck.
“C’mon, kill me.” Brent managed to breathe out, despite the pressure on his throat. “What are you waiting for?”
“Brendon, no.” Ryan put a hand on Brendon’s arm, his voice hurried. “Pete said to get him alive.”
“I don’t care.” Brendon replied, his eyes locked with Brent’s not slightly scared ones.
“Brendon.” Ryan repeated, hoping his boyfriend was going to listen to him. “Let’s just --”
Ryan shut up abruptly when Brendon placed a bullet in Brent’s forehead without warning. Before Brent turned into dust, Brendon pointed at the vampire’s hand on a gun, index on the trigger. “I’m not taking chances.”
Ryan looked as the body turned to dust, then looked at Brendon with a half apologetic half worried glance. When they both turned they saw Gerard Way and Frank standing in the middle of the room, pointing their guns at Gabe and Pete, who were pointing theirs at the intruders. The other vampires that had broken in with them - they couldn’t have been more than ten - were all dead. The hunters with the M4s were still keeping an eye on the outside, but they had stopped shooting.
“Put your guns down.” Pete warned, barely repressing his rage.
“Only after killing you.” Gerard growled, just as furious. “You fucking bastard, you killed my little brother.”
William heard those words and gestured Chizz to take his place at the M4, immediately reaching the group, a gun in his hand. “Mikey died because of the war you caused.”
“Don’t even say his name, you little slut.” Gerard’s eyes flashed grey, his fangs growing quickly.
“Mikey died to save Patrick.” Gabe said quietly, his eyes moving from Gerard to Frank. “He made his choice, he wanted to pay for what he made you do ninety years ago.”
Frank immediately looked at Pete at that, and the corners of his mouth curled in a wicked smile. “You got there in time, then?” Frank asked, seeing Gerard tense beside him. “I wish I was there. You should have seen how he screamed the first time.”
Pete didn’t even flinch as he pulled the trigger, his gun pointed at Frank’s chest. The bullet hit him a moment later, reaching his heart.
“Frank!” Gerard yelled as his mate turned into dust under his eyes. Without thinking twice he shot in Pete’s direction, but somehow the bullet reached William instead, grazing his leg. The young vampire fell on his knees with a shout, and Gabe shot Gerard in the arm, causing him to drop the gun.
“I’m sorry, Gee.” Gabe shook his head slowly, trying to keep his face emotionless, although his voice showed his hurt. “You had your chance.”
Gabe cocked his gun and prepared to shoot, despite the desperate and angry look in Gerard’s eyes. Before he could pull the trigger, though, another bullet reached Gerard in the heart.
“That’s for Mikey, you son of a bitch.” William muttered, putting the gun down and bringing his hand back to the wound. It wasn’t deep, but it burned a lot more than the previous time.
Gabe kneeled immediately, pulling William against his chest. “Why?”
“I couldn’t let you kill him.” William smiled up at him through the pain. “You’re his Sire.”
“Oh God, Bill.” Gabe whispered against William’s temple, then placed a soft kiss on the skin. “Can you get up?”
“Just give me a minute.” William replied, nodding and taking a deep breath.
“Sure, dollface.” Gabe rested his forehead against William’s, smiling softly. “We have all the time in the world.”
~~
Epilogue
Six months later
William opened the door and hesitated a couple of seconds before stepping inside. He and Gabe had stayed at Pete’s house for a couple of weeks after they had solved the Way clan problem.
Gabe entered right after him, and they closed the door behind them, looking around.
After a long group talk in which Brendon had reminded everyone he’d asked to be turned already weeks before, when Ryan had been turned, Ryan had finally given in to his boyfriend’s insistence and Gabe had offered to turn Brendon, since Pete couldn’t.
Things had happened faster than they had imagined and Maja had been able to de-turn Billie Joe, also thanks to one of Gabe’s silver Phoenix feathers. Brendon, on the other hand, hadn’t stopped bouncing around for over an hour, announcing he was a vampire.
Right after that Gabe and William had left, determined to take their minds off everything for a while now that things were under control.
That while had turned out to be six months spent in the extreme North, where the polar night had allowed them to travel around without much trouble. Not that they had left their bedroom for too long, anyway.
“About time you showed your sorry asses back here.” Billie Joe commented from the doorstep on their right, and they both turned to look at him.
“Hey shortie.” Gabe greeted him, and gained a sarcastic smile from the hunter. “Very human shortie.”
“Yeah, well, fishing for more ‘thank you’ and ‘we adore you’, Gabe?” Maja appeared behind Billie Joe, smiling widely.
“Something like that.” Gabe grinned, gaining a glare from Billie Joe.
“Good to have you back home. Had fun?” Maja shook her head, chuckling.
“A lot.” William grinned, putting his bag down. “News in the house?”
“Come see for yourself.” Maja gestured them to go in the library, and Gabe put both their bags near the door. “Guess who’s finally back!” Maja announced, walking back in the room.
When William and Gabe stepped in, the first thing the younger vampire noticed was a white bulldog puppy with a brown ear.
“Guys meet Hemingway.” Pete grinned from his seat on the couch, and Patrick waved happily at them from beside him. “Hemmy, you’re allowed to bite Saporta whenever you want.”
“I missed you too, Filthy Petey.” Gabe grinned, bending down to scratch the dog behind the ear.
“Oh my God.” William suddenly said, his eyes wide open, and Gabe stood quickly, following his gaze.
“There’s my little girl here.” Mike proudly announced as he rested a hand on Cassie’s visibly enlarged belly.
“We don’t really know, we want it to be a surprise, but he’s sure it’s a girl.” Cassie rolled her eyes, her hand covering Mike’s one.
“Congratulation guys.” William smiled widely and shook his head, still a bit shocked.
“While you’re at it, why don’t you congratulate Travie and Vicky as well?” Patrick nodded towards the couple, who was sharing an armchair near the empty fireplace.
“No babies yet.” Vicky smiled, holding up her left hand. “But we’re getting married.”
“Whoa.” William chuckled, unbelieving. “I think we missed quite a few things, uh?”
“Yeah, peace has this effect on people.” Pete laughed at William and Gabe’s surprised faces.
“Anything else we should know?” Gabe sat down on the couch, pulling William’s in his lap.
“Well, a few things, actually. Joe’s staying with us for now, Tré and Keltie have been officially dating…” Maja started to list, counting on her fingers. “Then Jon and Spencer are leaving us for Boringland in a few weeks, Bob Bryar is doing much better and Sisky decided he’s ready to embrace magic, and now he’s my apprentice.” Maja finished, looking up with a grin.
“Boringland?” William laughed, shaking his head.
“We’re leaving the business.” Jon said from the doorstep, and both William and Gabe turned to look at him. “At least for now.” Spencer reached Jon and they both walked in.
Before William could reply, Ryan entered quickly, announcing that dinner was ready. When he saw Gabe and William, he reached them quickly and hugged both of them. “I’m sure we can manage to fit in the kitchen.”
~~
Patrick saw Pete standing in front of the window, looking outside. “A penny for your thoughts.”
“They’re not so cheap.” Pete glanced at his boyfriend, smiling, then turned and rested his back against the window. “I was thinking about that vacation we were planning.”
“Really?” Patrick walked towards the vampire, his limping barely visible. “We can’t leave before Vicky and Travis’ wedding. And we should celebrate or something, after Gabe and Bill’s ritual.”
“Yeah, I think we can wait ‘til then.” Pete smiled and pulled Patrick in a loose hug.
“And I don’t wanna miss Mike’s face when he’ll see his baby for the first time.” Patrick rested his head against Pete’s shoulder, relaxing in his arms.
“You really don’t want this vacation, uh?” Pete joked, placing a soft kiss on Patrick’s unusually hatless head.
“Family comes first.” The werewolf closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation of Pete’s lips. “Then we’ll go on vacation.”
“Deal.” Pete whispered against Patrick’s hair, taking a deep breath. “Let’s go downstairs, the family is probably already betting on who’s topping right now.”
With a wholehearted laughter Patrick broke the embrace, and they both headed for the door.
~
“So…doctor Walker and professor Smith, uh?” William rested his back against the wall next to the window, looking at his friends.
“Yeah.” Jon smiled widely. “But don’t worry, we’ll still be around here.”
“How are you gonna pay for college if you both won’t work?” Gabe asked, frowning a bit.
“We’ll find part time jobs or something.” Spencer shrugged, looking up from his book with a little smile.
“What about this?” Gabe handed something to Jon, and saw the boy’s eyes widen in surprise.
“What- no, we can’t-” Spencer shook his head, standing quickly from his seat, and reached Jon.
“You can.” William smiled, looking at his friends’ incredulous smiles as Jon held the silver Phoenix feather in his hands.
“Silver Phoenixes weren’t extinct when I was turned, and my Sire gave me four feathers.” Gabe explained and walked up behind William, then circled the other vampire’s waist with his arms. “I still had two, and we thought that you should have this one.”
“You can sell it and keep the money, it’ll make things easier.” William suggested, leaning back in the hug and smiling fondly.
“I don’t know what to say.” Jon shook his head, still unbelieving. “Why us?”
“Gifts don’t have reasons.” Gabe shrugged, resting his chin on William’s shoulder. “Just be happy.”
“Actually, I have a present too. For Gabe and Bill.” Maja stood from the table, keeping something behind her back. “It took me a while, but I managed to fix this.”
The witch handed the two vampires a digital camera, and William took it with an amused frown. “My old camera?”
“I said I fixed it.” Maja rolled her eyes, taking the camera back and switching it on. She held it up and snapped a picture, grinning.
“Maja, vampires don’t appear in photos.” Gabe chuckled, confused.
“They can’t see their reflection in the mirror either, but as you might have noticed, mirrors in this house reflect you.” Maja arched an eyebrow, shaking her head in exasperation while she handed the camera back to William. “If I managed to do that, I couldn’t ignore the possibility of doing this.”
“It’s us.” William’s smile widened as he saw the picture on the little screen of the camera. “Maja, it’s…”
“Amazingly wonderful, I know.” Maja laughed at the sheer happiness on the vampire’s face. “I’m that awesome.”
“Well, we should take a picture together.” Gabe proposed, looking around. “Everyone.”
It took a couple of minutes to get everybody ready, but finally they managed to leave no one outside the range of the camera.
“Who’s gonna take it?” Pete asked, frowning, as everyone looked around.
“I’ll do it.” Tom took the camera with a smile, gesturing Maja to join the group.
“No, you’d be left out.” William bit on his lower lip, looking at his friend. They hadn’t spent much time together since his return, but he was glad to have him back on the good side. Somehow, William knew there was going to be a lot of time to fix things between the two of them.
“It’s not big deal.” Tom shrugged, a little smile tugging at his lips.
“It is.” William insisted, gesturing him to get his ass back in place.
“C’mon, I’ll set it on automatic.” Maja rolled her eyes, taking the camera from Tom again. “Go.”
A couple of minutes and three attempts later, William was looking in the little screen, beaming. Gabe watched him while the boy watched the picture, then moved his gaze to the people around them. Without thinking about it, he placed a kiss on William’s temple and pulled him closer, feeling at home for the first time in a long while.
~~
end
A/N: Only…not really. Just for now. LOL
I mean, chapter 24 was supposed to be the end, then I decided to write a sequel and I added the epilogue for two reasons.
First because I don’t like rushed endings and didn’t want to squeeze everything into chapter 24, and even a chapter 25 wouldn’t have been enough.
And second, because I wanted to ‘prepare the ground’ for the sequel, introducing things like vampire!Brendon, Cassie and Mike’s baby, Tom being back, the Joe/Haley thing and Tré/Keltie. They’re just kind of mentioned here, but that’s only because I didn’t want to develop them in one or two chapters, so they’ll all be explored in the sequel. Along with other stuff.
It’ll be set a month after the epilogue, it’ll have new bad guys and, well, more drama of course. I don’t know exactly when I’ll post the sequel, but I hope it won’t take too long.
Most important of all…THANK YOU. For your awesome and constant support through all this, and really, it’s totally thanks to you if there’s gonna be a sequel. So yeah, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.
And see you soon, you awesome people.
<33333JenJM